Wiggins Ozark Camp (Part two of two) [6 cents]

I looked up Wiggins Ozark Camp on the web, and found only one entry, on a map of Lesterville MO, prepared by the federal agency, it shows, among many other things, the Wiggins Ozark Camp Dam. I think it is this dam that blocked the water in the man-made lower lake, and I think that there was a connection between the lake and the pool below. I have no idea what one would find there now.

I am trying to remember my activities at camp. You would think that would be easy, but it isn't. I remember two activities fairly vividly: horseback riding and Black River float trips. I remember the pool, but not really what I did there. I remember very little about being on the lake, and even less about the arts and crafts. I remember a lot of time talking to my fellow campers, and remember that one of the counsellors like to tell ghost stories, that to me were very scary. (Like the one where someone found a leg under their covers, and their hair turned white immediately).

Oh, yes, I remember the Sunday morning non-denominational religious services outside at a place with benches and a little stage. I remember we used to say the lord's prayer, which I of course refused to say, and I remember a discussion with Wiglet, where I told her that the service was not non-sectarian because they said the lord's prayer. She said that Jesus' name was not in the lord's prayer, so it was all right. I looked at her like she must be a little nuts, and said, but Jesus said the lord's prayer! It was a stand-off. I know they were trying to be non-sectarian. I would guess that the camp (like every camp, school, office, etc. that I have ever been in) wasa 1/3 Jewish or so, but the Wiggins taught in Kirkwood, and Kirkwood had nobody Jewish in it, I was sure of that, and therefore was as far away from my personal experience as Bangladesh (which of course did not exist at the time), so what did they know?

The horses were where I spent most of my time. I think we were pretty free to choose activities. I actually remember the horses better than the people. There was Misty, tan with a dark mane, Sunset, red with a blond mane, Red, all red, Dan and Charlie, both old and dappled white, Fire (who I thik looked like Red), and that is about as far as I can go. We rode, saddled and bridled the horses, fed them, kept them groomed, kept the stables sort of clean, and so forth. Although my experience on run-away Misty (reported earlier) was not confidence inspiring, I actually became a fairly good rider and was very comfortable on horses. We rode western, and had a lot of territory to traverse, including fields, trails, hills, valleys, creeks and everything else you could imagine. Even abandoned farms and roads. I think rides usually went one or two hours. We went back behind the barn, through another gate, passed the upper lake (which I think was natural) and then usually got our choice where we wanted to go. We walked, we trotted, we cantored. We never seemed to have an accident or get hurt. (One time, I did fall into a creek when my horse was drinking, and took a strange and unexpected turn, but it was a hot day, and all was well.)

I had mentioned in the last post that if you kept on the road past the camp, you were on your way to Johnson Shut-in State Park. This is still a state park, and was a place where the river (maybe the Black) pocketed so you could climb over rocks and see pools between the rocks where the water wound up, and could jump in and swim and so forth. Hard to explain (largely, because hard to remember). We would go there once in a while in the camp bus. On the way, we would see C.R. Burroughs.

Every term (that is, twice a summer), we would take an overnight (maybe two nights for the older kids) float trip down the Black River. Sort of lazy floats, where we would talk, swim, fish, cook food over open fires, and sleep in sleeping bags (no tents on the rock banks of the river. I think there were also some trips on the Current River, which had more flow to it, but I never went on them, and maybe there weren't any. We also went on canoe trips on the Black, and that was great fun, because of the easy rapids, and the deep pools. After doing the floats and canoe trips a few times, you got to know the river, and what to expect around the next bend. It was rare that we saw any other people on these trips. I am not sure what it would be like today.

After I stopped going to Wiggins, my horseback riding waw very sporadic. But as long as I was in St. Louis, I would go on Current, Black or White River canoe trips. It has been a long time, though.

I was thinking about my friend, Danny, and I thought maybe he was only there the first year I went. I am not sure. And maybe we discovered that we really weren't good friends when we were there, because I don't remember much about us together. I remember other kids, such as Harold, who was sort of a practical joker, much better. And David and Steve from Evansville. And Ron, who later had a nervous breakdown at Swarthmore and has not been the same since.

I do remember once walking by the lower lake with Danny, and he said something to me that, even as a 12 year old, or so, I thought too profound for my meager brain. He said, "Arthur, you know, when people meet us, they have no idea how smart we are. It's really great. We just don't look smart."

This actually caused shivers to go down my spine. I had always thought myself to be pretty smart. Now I knew that I didn't look smart to other people and particularly, Danny, who knew me better than anyone else didn't think I appeared smart. And if I wasn't smart, what was I? And what was the purpose of being smart, if others didn't think you were smart?

Maybe this is when I decided Danny and I were not meant for each other.